


Iced Coffee

by SuperSquiddle



Category: South Park
Genre: Drug Use, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, I cannot resist a good story if I see one, M/M, More characters will be added as introduced, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, have fun kiddos, so here this is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-10 09:11:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13498952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperSquiddle/pseuds/SuperSquiddle
Summary: Craig helps Tweek get over his coffee addiction; meanwhile Kenny tries to piece his family back together.





	1. Under Pressure

**Author's Note:**

> This fic consists of two perspectives of the same story from opposite ends. Each chapter will consist of both Tweek/Craig's and Kenny's perspective running parallel to each other, occasionally intertwining. I hope you all enjoy the story! I'll try my best to update often.

“Tweek, honey, I really think you should see a doctor.”

 

 

The boy paced back and forth in the school bathroom, pulling at his hair and shaking his head in worry. “No no no, Craig it can’t be broken, right?! Nggghh-OW!!!” shouted Tweek, rubbing the right side of his jaw. He glanced up at the older boy in panic, picking at his fingernails anxiously once he saw Craig’s serious expression. “Um, ok it might be… Maybe. Can you please just check for me one more time?”

 

 

Craig exhaled and nodded, shining the light of his phone into Tweek’s mouth. He cringed when he caught sight of the boy’s molar, which was cracked almost clean in half down the middle. “Dude, it fucking split in half. I’m not exaggerating.”

 

 

His boyfriend let out a groan of frustration and panic as Craig put his phone away. “O-oh god…”

 

 

Craig tilted his head in confusion and asked, “how the hell did that even happen? You were just in class right? If there was a fight you’d be in the principal’s office.”

 

 

Tweek twitched a little, gripped at his shirt and glanced anywhere to avoid looking at Craig. “Y-yeah, I was in environment studies and I was trying to pay attention but then the teacher started talking about global warming and I kept thinking about how the world might flood and how the atmosphere is becoming like an oven and how I’m going to be up to my neck in garbage which might cause the government to start firing missiles at other countries because their lands are clean!!!” He paced back and forth, grabbing at his hair.

 

 

“Tweek-”

 

 

The boy ignored him. “Not to mention all the animals are dying and- oh GOD what if they start an uprising and decide to kill all the humans as punishment for destroying everything?! JESUS CHRIST WHAT IF STRIPE HAS BEEN PLANNING TO MURDER US THIS WHOLE TIME CRAIG?!”

 

 

He then grabbed Tweek’s shoulders firmly, stopping him. “Tweek! You need to calm down; Stripe isn’t going to kill us.”

 

 

“He’s not?”

 

 

“No, Stripe loves you, you know this. Anyway, how does any of this have to do with you hurting your tooth?”

 

 

Tweek licked a small amount of blood off his lip as his head jerked. “S-s-s… _Streeeessssngghhh…_ I-I’ve been trying not to pick my skin like you said but then I keep grinding my teeth and it just split!!! _Itjustfuckingsplit!!!_ ”

 

 

The young boy then whimpered in pain and rubbed his jaw again. Craig’s grip on his shoulders softened, he took a deep breath to still himself from bursting out from worry and forced himself to think logically about the situation. “I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but honey, I _really_ think you need to see a doctor.”

 

 

His shaking quelled for a moment and he moved closer to Craig, resting his head on his chest. “Y-yeah, you’re right, I have to get this fixed as soon as possible… It’s a good thing my parents actually have a dental plan; otherwise they’d have to sell the shop and their house just to pay for it and we’d be homeless and they’d have to sell me into slavery and that is just WAY too much pressure!!!”

 

 

Craig gently began to pat his back, awkwardly adjusting his chullo as he mentally prepared for the fight that was likely about to happen. He then sighed and just spoke, “yeah… But that’s not what I meant and you know it.”

 

 

Tweek suddenly jerked back out of his arms and glared up at him. “Oh no, nonono not this again!!! We were done with this talk years ago Craig!!!”

 

 

Craig shot back an equally frustrated glare and pointed at him. “No we weren’t! We never were! _Something’s_ not right here Tweek and you know that better than anyone!”

 

 

“Oh my god _seriously?!_ I already know what’s wrong!!!”

 

 

“No you fucking don’t!”

 

 

“I have a diagnosis!!! I’m NOT going back to the fucking doctor Craig!!!”

 

 

“Why?!”

 

 

_“I’msickofit!!!_ I got dragged around to specialist after specialist all my childhood by my goddamn parents but despite having a diagnosis that just isn’t good enough for you is it?! I have ADD and a caffeine addiction!” –he gripped Craig’s jacket tightly- “ _We’ve been together for years now, why can’t you just can’t accept that?!”_

 

 

Craig gritted his teeth angrily and pulled Tweek’s hands away. “Show me where the hell ADD involves stressing yourself out so bad that you hurt yourself and I will. And you wanna know what I think?! That your parents probably only took you to all those fucking doctors because they wanted a reason to explain to their stupid asshole friends why their kid twitches and screams at basically everything!!!”

 

 

Tweek flinched, gripped at his shirt and looked at his feet.

 

 

Craig inhaled sharply. Shit, now he was hurt. He clenched his fists in frustration at himself and spoke calmly, “I’m sorry Tweek. What I was actually trying to say without sticking my goddamn foot in my mouth is that every time you have gone, it’s been with your parents. I think we should go see a new doctor without your parents; someone out of town who doesn’t know who you are.”

 

 

Tweek’s tense body seemed to relax slightly. The boy bit his lip and met Craig’s gaze. “Why? Why should I?”

 

Craig looked him up and down, spotting numerous reasons that he _really_ should. Though the two of them were now 16 Craig towered over his boyfriend at 6’1”, while Tweek was only 5’3” despite both his parents being taller. His eyes drifted to Tweek’s arms, which were covered in awful scabs where he continuously picked at his skin. More and more often as he aged Craig had to remind him to stop picking at them, to no real avail. But most of all, just how tired and frail Tweek looked worried him to no end; the young man would always put it down to high school stressing him out but Craig doubted even he was sure about that.

 

 

However, instead of voicing all of his concerns and possibly working Tweek up again he just decided to admit, “I’ve been doing a bunch of research lately into ADD and caffeine. I know I’m not a doctor and that it’s just google searches and books but nothing’s been adding up. So I’ve just been thinking we should go by ourselves so your parents don’t put ideas in the doctor’s heads and that way we can actually find out what’s going on.”

 

 

Tweek stared up at him.

 

 

Craig was silent for a moment before his shoulders slumped and he asked, “I sound like an asshole, don’t I?”

 

 

“Yeah, you kinda do.”

 

 

He placed a hand on his forehead. “God dammit… Look I’ve been wanting to bring this up because… Well you just… I’ve been thinking… Ok fuck this I’m going to stop pussyfooting around it; I’m worried about you. I keep bringing it up because over the years you’ve just been looking sicker and sicker and I’m confident that ADD and caffeine doesn’t do this. I give a shit about you and I want to know how I can help, there, I said it.

 

 

Tweek turned away from him and thought to himself for a moment. He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “Fine. Ok. Yeah. I… I’ve been thinking about that too and I-I just didn’t want to admit it but... I think you’re right.”

 

 

There was a momentary silence between them as tension that had been building slowly dissipated. Craig approached him and gently put his arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. “So… Uh… When do you think we should go?”

 

 

Tweek glanced around the room and shrugged, leaning into him. “Nghhh… After I get my tooth fixed, it hurts like hell!”

 

 

Craig nodded. “Cool. I’ll look for a doctor in the meantime.”

 

 

“Ok, ok…” -he suddenly shrieked, jumping away from Craig with wide eyes- “WAIT!!! How the hell are we going to pay for this?! Oh god oh god-”

 

 

The taller boy took hold of Tweek’s wrists as his hands drifted to his hair and pulled them away. “Babe, it’s ok. I’ll probably just pawn off some of my old crap or shovel snow around the neighbourhood, plus I’ve been saving pocket money, it’s ok.”

 

 

He seemed visibly calmer at the suggestion. “Alright… Gah-God I wish I could help, but I don’t get paid for working at the coffee shop.”

 

 

“Well then maybe you could pick who we see instead? Either way it’s no problem, we’ll get this sorted out together Tweek.”

 

 

Tweek slowly smiled. “Y-yeah… Thank you Craig…”

 

 

Craig returned the smile, before tilting his head as Tweek groaned in frustration. “What’s wrong?”

 

 

“Christ, I _really_ need a coffee but the temperature will make my tooth SCREAM in pain and I just can’t handle that right now!”

 

 

“Just drink it through a straw then?”  
  


Tweek then gave him the most offended look that he could muster up before rolling his eyes as Craig smirked. He then chose to not acknowledge that absolute blasphemy before leaving the bathroom, his boyfriend following close behind.

 

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

It was the end of another cold, boring day at South Park high; filled with the droning voices of unenthused teachers only serving to dash the dreams of any student unable to afford even the most basic of colleges into the pavement. Hence reminding Kenny McCormick to not take school _too_ seriously; he’d make his own path towards his dreams, but he needed to set a good example, so he at least chose to attend. Weaving his way through the crowded hallways Kenny squeezed past the afternoon rush of teenagers towards his locker, their increasing volume not exactly helping him fight off the impending headache that was threatening to rear itself. Ultimately he was tired and just wanted to go home.

 

 

He took hold of the strings on his jacket, opting to pull his hood tighter over his face, but not before he heard a familiar voice call his name. Kenny turned to see Kyle wave at him and then swiftly duck through the crowd.

 

 

Kyle adjusted his ushanka so it sat firmly over his dark red hair and smiled up at his friend. “Hey man! What’s up?”

 

 

Kenny grinned back at him, he didn’t get to see Kyle too much these days as the boy focused a little bit _too_ much on his studies, at least in his opinion. “Nothing too much, just suppressing the urge to curl up on the ground and let the earth swallow my ass up. You?”

 

 

Kyle’s smile faded. “Are you alright?”

 

 

The boy shrugged. “Kinda? I got handed like five assignments today, so basically we’ve hit the midterm hump and not the good kind if you get what I mean,” he said with a wink.

 

 

Kyle stared at him unamused as Kenny flashed him a smirk. “If that was some kind of sex joke then that was fucking lame dude.”

 

 

Kenny sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah… I’ve been a little off my game with all the work piling up.”

 

 

“You say that like you actually do your homework.”  


  
“Hey! I _attempt_ my assignments, which is good enough.” He folded his arms with a smug look on his face.

 

 

Kyle shook his head and sighed. “Whatever helps you sleep at night dude, anyway you have no room to talk to _me_ about your workload…”

 

 

“Fair.”

 

 

He then looked up at Kenny with a curious expression. “So… Um, what are you doing this weekend?”

 

 

Kenny stopped dead in the middle of the hallway, stared at him with an exaggerated look of utter shock and exclaimed, “ _Kyle Broflovski is free on a weekend?!_ Holy shit how many _years_ has it been?!”

 

 

Kyle elbowed him hard and continued walking, suppressing a chuckle. “It’s only been like three weeks, I’m not _that_ busy dude!”

 

 

“Well between you taking practically every single advanced class under the sun, being captain of the basketball team and preparing to ritualistically sacrifice your soul to law school I’d say you’re just a little more than ‘not that busy’.”

 

 

“It’s called preparing myself for the future, Kenny… Besides, I’ve missed hanging out with you dude, I was thinking we get Stan in on it too and go out somewhere? Just the three of us?”

 

 

Kenny smiled at the suggestion. “Yeah like there are so many places to go in _South Park,_ wide fuckin’ selection there. But sure, how about the three of us sort it out later and I’ll see if I can shuffle around my hours at City Wok?”

 

 

Kyle’s nose crinkled up in distaste. “Christ, that place is still open?”

 

 

“Yep!”

 

 

“Fucking how? Their food is shit and I get uncomfortable even being anywhere _near_ Mr. Lu Kim.”

 

 

Kenny thought to himself for a moment. “Eh… Not too sure, convenience? Either way I don’t care too much, it pays.”  


  
“Yeah true.”

 

 

The pair quickly reached their lockers; Kyle began loading books into his backpack while Kenny simply stood in front of his and stared at it with a foreboding look on his face.

 

 

Kyle noticed after closing his locker and raised an eyebrow. “Uh… What are you doing?”  


  
“Mentally preparing myself.”

 

 

Kyle pinched his nose in disbelief and groaned, “oh for Christ’s sake, don’t tell me you still haven’t cleaned out your locker.”

 

 

Kenny shoved his hands in his pockets and gave him an awkward grin. “Nope!”

 

 

“Dude! It’s been nearly four years!”

 

 

“Look, locker cleaning day is optional!” Kenny then began inputting the combination.

 

 

“Man, you’re so fucking lazy.”

 

 

Kenny side-eyed him. “Hey! I literally can’t afford to be lazy, so I let myself be lazy where I can, which is mostly my locker.” The teenager then slowly opened the door, sighing in relief as nothing spilled out onto the floor.

 

 

Kyle leaned over his shoulder to watch. “Why’re you looking for your stuff in a trash can Kenny?”

 

 

The taller boy swatted him away. “Fuck off.” He then cautiously reached in near the back of his locker, took hold of the edge of a book and moved to pull it out, causing about fifty or so papers and a few books to unceremoniously spill onto the ground in front of him. Kenny screwed his eyes shut and pressed his forehead to the cold metal door as Kyle laughed.

 

 

The red haired teenager stifled his laughter as best he could and then weaselled his way in front of Kenny, rummaging through his locker. “I’ll organize it for you if you want, but only because it makes me want to kill myself looking at it.”

 

 

“Go for your life. But hey maybe-”

 

 

Kenny was quickly cut off by Kyle saying, “what…?” in confusion and pulling out a particularly scrunched up and partially water stained piece of paper. He turned to stare at his friend in utter disappointment. “This. Is an assignment. That we got. _In eighth grade!”_

 

 

The look on his face made Kenny chuckle through his nose, he tried not to smile as he commented, “yeesh.”

 

 

Kyle then turned and continued rummaging. “There’s more… A lot more. What the hell dude?!”

 

 

“Ok so, what you’re saying is that I have an entire fucking fossil record in my locker?”

 

 

“Yeah, buried in half finished worksheets and playboy cut-outs… Also why the hell do you have so many pen caps???”  


  
Kenny tilted his head. “What?”  


  
“There’s like, 20 caps in here!”

 

 

“I pick up the pens people drop.”

 

 

“These are just the caps though?”

 

 

“I keep losing the pens.”

 

 

Kyle turned and gave Kenny the most deadpan look he could muster. The other boy tried not to snort with laughter as he ran a hand through his hair. “Look man… Can we just go already?”

 

 

“In a second…” Kyle turned and continued fishing through the sea of paper as Kenny picked his things up off the floor. “Paper… More paper… Empty food wrappers…” -he cringed in disgust- “some kind of mold that probably evolved into an undiscovered species in here… Wait… _Please_ don’t tell me that’s an empty condom packet.”

 

 

Kenny then shoved everything that fell out back into the locker and shut the door on Kyle, slightly annoyed. “Ok fuck this, I’m gonna be late. Dude we can do it later alright? I gotta meet Karen out the front.”

 

 

Kyle stood up. “Oh, sorry.”  


  
“It’s fine. Also if you’re _totally_ not busy then why don’t you come walk home with us?” he offered.

 

 

The boy looked at his feet awkwardly. “Well you see I-”  


  
“You’re busy?”  


  
“Yeah, basketball training.”  


  
“Oh, I thought you totally _weren’t_ busy,” teased Kenny.

 

 

He folded his arms definitely “I never said anything about this afternoon.”

 

 

Kenny mock pouted at his friend. “Aww what? Am I not pretty for you or something?”

 

 

Kyle smirked. “Fuck off dude.”

 

 

He slung his bag over his shoulder. “Doing that right now. Anyway I’ll text you later, if you see Stan tell him I said hi, ok?”  


  
“Will do, seeya!”

 

 

Kenny then swiftly walked down the hall towards the exit, thankful that the crowd had dispersed somewhat. As he headed to the double doors he ruffled Butter’s hair in passing, turning just enough to catch the younger boy smile at the gesture. He quickly dodged around Tweek and Craig, who had just exited the boy’s bathroom, flipping each other off before rejoining their group. Kenny decided not to pay them too much mind; they fought occasionally but that time the gesture seemed almost playful. Besides, he had somewhere to be.

 

 

Once outside he scanned the courtyard to see Karen waiting beside the flagpole as per usual. He quickly jogged up to her, grinning as her eyes lit up at the sight of him.

 

 

“Hey Kenny!”

 

 

“Yo Karen!”

 

 

The young girl met him half way and the pair turned down the street together. There was an unusual spring in her step as they headed down the main road. The young girl beamed up at him, clearly eager to tell him something. “Hey, hey! Guess what?!”

 

 

He returned her smile and asked, “what’s up? Something cool happen at school today?”

 

 

“Yeah! I got invited to a sleepover this weekend!” she practically squealed.

 

 

Kenny blinked in surprise. “Woah holy shit… Sweet! So you made some friends?”

 

 

“Yeah! They want me to stay over and we were gonna put together some cool outfits! They said my dolls were really cute and they want me to teach them how to make them! It’s gonna be so much fun!”

 

 

Seeing his usually shy and timid sister come right out of her shell filled him with absolute pride. Despite being nearly 13 Karen had never truly managed to make friends at her school; which was then accentuated after Kenny began high school, leaving her with no one. This was a first and a very welcome one at that.

 

 

Karen continued to skip down the street slightly ahead of him. “This is so cool Kenny! Detention was so worth it for this!”

 

 

Her brother raised an eyebrow. “Hang on a second, what are you talking about?”

 

 

She turned and smiled at him. “I had detention all last week, remember?”

 

 

“Yeah I remember,” he had to wait outside the school for her the whole time, not fun, “but I’m sorta missing the part where it was worth it?”

 

 

“Well, the girls asked if they could hang out with me today because I stood up to that bully Jessica Pinkerton! She hasn’t picked on anyone since I punched her in the face! I got her with a jab and then just _wham!!!_ Right in the nose!!!” Karen explained with glee, holding her fists in front of her face.

 

 

A smug grin spread across Kenny’s face; he taught her that. “Oh fuck yeah! You got her real good huh?”

 

 

“Yeah! I think that’s why her nose bled so much…” she wondered to herself for a short while before looking up at her brother. “What’s up? You keep staring at me?”

 

 

“Uh, what’s wrong with that?”  


  
“It’s weird.”  


  
“Well maybe I just can’t help it considering my little sister is growing up so fast!” he then suddenly wrapped an arm around her neck and noogied her, messing up her hair.

 

 

She shrieked, “don’t!!!” and pushed him away as he snickered, fixing her pigtails. “You’re such an assbutt Kenny!”

 

 

He burst out laughing. “The fuck kind of insult is that?!”

 

 

“One that’s tailor made for you, you stupid dickface!” She frowned and crossed her arms as he continued to chuckle, completely unfazed by her insults. Karen then glanced at the ground and back up at her brother before asking, “so, um, with the sleepover… Can you pick me up on Sunday when it’s over?”

 

 

“Have you got a time for me?”

 

 

“Uh… I’ll get one.”

 

 

“Let me know once you do.”  


  
“Thank you Kenny…”

 

 

Karen eyed the shops as they headed down the main street, ducking into the local arts and crafts shop with her brother in tow. Kenny followed as she made a beeline for the fabric section, running her fingers over the materials until she came across what she was looking for. She pulled out a deep purple roll of felt and walked over to the front counter.

 

 

“You need that for a doll?” asked Kenny.  


  
“Yep,” she answered, placing the felt on the counter. As her brother instinctively reached for his wallet Karen pulled a number of crumpled notes from her pocket and handed them to the cashier. She tilted her head at Kenny’s annoyed expression as she was given a small plastic bag and left the store. “What?”

 

  
“You don’t have to pay for anything Karen.”  


  
“Well I want to! I’ve been saving up for it!”

 

 

He sighed reluctantly at her stubborn expression. “Alright alright, fine, I’ll lay off this time… So you needed that for a doll?”

 

 

“Yep!”

 

  
“You picked a really nice colour, it’d be good for a dress.”

 

 

“You’re right, but I’m not using it for a dress.”

 

 

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What’s it for?”  


  
She smirked up at him. “It’s a _secret!”_

 

 

“Ok then? Have fun with that.”  


  
“I will!”

 

 

The pair made small talk as they cut through the suburbs and crossed the train tracks, very quickly catching sight of the ruined SoDoSoPa which surrounded their house, as well as a spying a shady looking character slip under their garage door. Kenny glared at the ground in front of him as he walked, clenching his fist tight. He then looked up as Karen moved closer to him; the sounds of yelling and glass breaking echoed out onto the street. The boy sighed and patted her back reassuringly, this was nothing new. He then opened the front door for her and the two of them headed straight for their rooms, completely choosing to ignore their parents fighting in the living room. He let his bag drop to the floor after closing his door and slumped onto his mattress, running his hands over his face and groaning; this shit was just intensifying his headache.

 

 

Kenny pulled his hoodie off over his head, throwing it to the side. His eyes wandered around his room, glancing over the numerous posters taped to the walls before settling on his messy patch job of a desk. He stood and collected a scrappy looking playboy magazine from a drawer, opening it to reveal a thin notebook hidden inside. Tapping a pen against his teeth, the teen’s train of thought drifted back to the strange man entering his shed and a pit formed in his stomach. _God damn tweaker pieces of shit…_ The absolute last thing he needed was another fucking meth lab in his garage, yet alone in his junior year of high school. The grip on his pen tightened until his knuckles turned white. Apparently it was just too fucking hard for his parents to do anything involving jobs aside from complain about not having one. Why work hard and struggle for a pay check when you can just sell drugs and make triple in a fraction of the time? And when there wasn’t a lab at their house Kenny was the one supporting his family, holding down a job at City Wok and occasionally working weekends at the auto shop. Honestly he’d take that any day over having a ticking time bomb two meters from his bedroom.

 

 

The teen ran a hand through his hair and stared at the brainstorming notes on the paper in front of him. He was running out of ideas. Threatening his parents as Mysterion had long since stopped yielding any true results; no matter how many times he confronted them or even lived up to his threats eventually they would fall back into their old habits, rendering the effort useless. Destroying the materials needed to make the drug wouldn’t solve the issue in the long term either as well as having the locals that were involved arrested; his own parents just picked up the slack. There was also absolutely no way in hell he was going to break into the garage and destroy the lab himself; knowing his luck Kenny was about 99% sure that if he were to ever set foot in there something would explode and catch on fire, lighting up his house and either killing everyone inside or rendering them homeless.

 

 

He put his head in his hands. He couldn’t get the police involved, despite how much he wanted to. They’d just arrest everyone and Karen would be sent off to some awful foster home; considering that this was far from his parent’s first offence he doubted that they’d just be let out with a slap on the wrist. He didn’t know what would happen to him, he wasn’t involved in any crime, but truly he didn’t care too much. However, the thought of his sister being whisked away to a repeat of their last group home made him sick to his stomach.

 

 

There had to be something he was missing, a factor he hadn’t accounted for.

 

 

There had to be a way to fix this, for good this time.

 

 

There had to be.

 

 

_There just had to be._

 

 

Kenny peered down at his notebook through his fingers, eyes focusing on the large question mark scrawled on the middle of the page. He smiled grimly at the irony of that symbol; after all, Mysterion can’t do anything to help this time.


	2. Highs and Lows

 

The remainder of the week dragged on through a suffocating haze of apprehension and dread, one that Kenny wasn’t sure he could take much longer; the weekend couldn’t have come soon enough. The teenager stepped out the front door of his house, pulled the hood of his jacket up and rubbed his eyes before heading off down the street. His frequent ventures into vigilantism, though rewarding, didn’t exactly offer Kenny much in the way of rest. In fact he wasn’t exactly sure when he had last properly sat down and relaxed; hopefully that would change today while catching up with Kyle and Stan.

 

 

He hadn’t seen much of the two boys outside of classes after the school year began. Now that they were in their junior year things had started to pick up for everyone; responsibilities stacked on top of each other and some people decided to sacrifice their entire social life to standardized tests and college essays. ‘Some people’ meaning Kyle; and wherever he went, Stan followed. Hence they hadn’t seen much of each other lately and Kenny was eager to repair the distance that had grown between them. He crossed the train tracks, a feeling of eagerness building up in his stomach as Kyle’s house came into view. But just before he turned to walk up to the front door the teen paused and thought to himself, surely they wouldn’t mind if he brought one more person? Nah... And if they did they could bring it up with him later.

 

 

Kenny then shoved his hands into his pockets and quickly headed down the path. There was only one person who he could think of that was more in need of a break from their daily life than he was and they resided just halfway down the road. Snow crunched under his feet as he cut across the lawn, Kenny then pulled his hood down and put on his most charming lopsided grin before knocking on the door to the Stotch residence.

 

 

Unsurprisingly, Stephen answered the door, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Oh, you’re the McCormick boy… what do you want?” he asked.

 

 

“Nothing too much Sir, thought I might check in on Butters. Is he home?”

 

 

Stephen narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why?”

 

 

“Just wanted to hang out with him, if that’s ok with you?” Kenny internally prayed that the boy wasn’t grounded again for whatever stupid reason.

 

 

“Give me a minute.” Butter’s father then closed the door, the teen breathed a sigh of relief in response and pressed his ear to the door. The sound of footsteps penetrated through the wood, followed by barely intelligible yelling that had something to do with homework. Kenny straightened back up when he heard someone coming down the stairs and smiled warmly when Butters opened the door.

 

 

Butters’ entire face lit up at the sight of him. “Well hey Kenny! This is a lil’ bit of a shocker! How’re you doin’?”

 

The boy shrugged. “Eh, I’m alright. How about you?”

 

 

“I’m ok! I was just playin’ around on my computer a bit. So what’s up? Do you need me to do somethin’ for ya cuz I-I-...” -he glanced at his feet and scratched his undercut awkwardly- “you know how I feel ‘bout all those schemes and stuff y’all used to get right into...”

 

 

“Oh fuck no! Dude you know I was over that shit years ago. I was just gonna ask if you wanted to hang out with us today.”

 

 

Butters’ eyes widened and he smiled excitedly. “Really?! You mean it?”

 

 

Kenny grinned and leaned against the door. “Yeah, just me, Stan and Kyle. We were probably gonna go fuck around Stark’s pond for a while or something, you in?”

 

 

“Heck yeah! Just give me a second to get my things…” The teen turned and ran up the stairs while Kenny waited patiently. They didn’t hang out enough outside of school, which was a shame considering how close they had become over the years. But between working at City Wok, Kenny’s nighttime outings as Mysterion and Butters’ parents grounding him at seemingly every chance they got their time together was slim at best. Like, Jesus Christ the kid was turning 17 in a few months, most people were too old to be grounded at that age but not according to the Stotches it seemed.

 

 

Kenny flashed a smirk and patted him on the back as Butters slipped into a jacket and stepped outside. The pair walked in silence towards Kyle’s house, Kenny making a point to keep on Butters’ right side so they didn’t bump into each other. Butters was blind in his left eye after all, complete with a nasty scar. Kenny chose not to think about it too much; the memory of blood and ocular fluid seeping slowly down the boy’s cheek made him sick with guilt to this day.

 

 

He eagerly rung the doorbell over and over until Kyle answered with a slightly irritated look on his face. “Kenny, I know you’ve always wanted a family butler but you won’t find it here, stop ringing the damn bell.”

 

 

The teen then grinned cheekily and rung it one more time for good measure. Kyle rolled his eyes before bowing deeply and stepping out of the way. “Right this way then, _your majesty._ ”

 

 

Kenny entered the room with a smug air about him returned the bow. “Why thank you my good sir, you sure know how to treat a lady~”

 

 

Kyle stood up straight and groaned. “Kiss my ass dude.”

 

 

The teen gave his friend a wink before spying Stan, who was getting up from the couch to put his coat on. “Hey man, long time no see!” he then glanced behind Kenny to see Butters standing in the doorway picking at his sleeve. “Oh… Hey Butters.”

 

 

Kyle did a double take before shooting Stan an awkward look and turning towards Butters. “Oh shit, sorry, didn’t see you there dude!”

 

 

Butters rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sweetly at them. “That’s ok fellas, I know I kind of fade out a little… But it’s good to see you too!”

 

 

Kenny slinked over beside the shorter boy and slid an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. “So, wishy washy formalities aside: are we gonna blow this joint or what?”

 

 

“Yeah, lets get outta here,” agreed Stan, brushing dog fur off his coat and heading outside, “no offense Kyle, but I can’t cope with your mom doting on me a second longer today.”

 

 

Kyle shrugged and followed him, locking the door behind the four of them. “None taken.”

 

 

Kenny allowed his arm to slide off of Butter’s shoulders, slipping his hands into his pockets as they followed behind Stan and Kyle. Butters then leaned in towards Kenny and whispered, “y’know Ken, I was kinda under the impression that all three of you invited me out…”

 

 

He shrugged in response. “Nah… They can get the fuck over it though.”

 

 

“Y-yeah but… I don’t wanna cause no trouble for y’all…”

 

 

“You aren’t… Trust me, this’ll be way more fun with you around.”

 

 

Butters flushed slightly and looked away with a smile on his face.

 

 

The walk to Stark’s pond generally didn’t take that long, however Stan suggested that they might as well grab food on the way, prompting them to bypass the lake while he bickered with Kyle, considering they could’ve eaten back at the house. Their quarrel was quickly silenced when Butters cut in, stating that there was no point in fighting and proposing they should just stop by KFC. Kenny’s eyes lit up at the suggestion and so the four of them detoured through the town centre.

 

 

Kenny dug through his wallet once they reached the establishment, managing only to budget out a few notes. Butters peeked over his shoulder as Stan and Kyle ordered. “Oh geez, are you sure you can afford anything with that?”  


  
“Probably nuggets or some shit,” he grumbled disappointedly.

 

 

Butters, seeing how downcast he was, then offered, “why don’t we share? I don’t have enough to buy us both a meal but that way we could prob’ly get somethin’ bigger.”

 

 

“Oh fuck yeah! Sure, you get to pick. Dude that’s super nice of you!”

 

 

Butters fiddled with his sleeve and rocked back and forth on his heels. “Least I can do! You did invite me out after all; gosh I haven’t been out with friends in a long time…”

 

 

After thirty minutes of dealing with disgruntled employees the boys were strolling towards Stark’s Pond. Kenny was practically drooling at the smell of KFC surrounding them. Kyle tilted his head back to look at him, “Christ dude, excited huh?”

 

 

“Uh, yeah! Though it does come with mixed feelings...”

 

 

Butters raised an eyebrow at him and asked curiously, “really? Why?”

 

 

“I’m getting fucking war flashbacks to when Cartman ate all the skin off our chicken that one time.”

 

 

The other two boys groaned loudly as Butters glanced between them in shock. “Eric actually did that?!”

 

 

Kenny grinned at him. “Are you actually surprised right now? Seriously Butters? That’s on the _mild_ end of his bullshit.”

 

 

“Uh, no actually! That sounds exactly like him.”

 

 

Kyle practically growled. “I wanted to kick his fucking teeth in for that.”

 

 

“Yeah, right!?” agreed Stan, “god he was such an asshole. I can’t believe we used to hang out with him… We should’ve dropped him sooner.”

 

 

“We really should’ve, but dude I had no idea what he’d do if we just told him to fuck off! I thought he’d try to like, kill my family or something… Just that fear was terrifying on it’s own… But if I knew he _wouldn’t_ chuck the biggest shit-fit known to man I honestly would’ve kicked fatass to the curb sooner,” admitted Kyle.

 

 

“Yeah that was… Kinda weird… He didn’t do much of anything huh?”

 

 

“Nope, he still walks around the school like he owns the place though. It’s like he doesn’t realize no one likes him… I mean, except you Butters I guess?”

 

 

Butters held his hands out in defense. “Oh heck no! I ditched him years ago…”

 

 

Stan and Kyle looked at him in surprise.

 

 

“Yeah… I got sick of him pushing me around all the time, but I thought I should let him down gently. I even made him a little parting gift so he’d get a new laptop! Just a lil’ touch of chaos to entertain him for a while…”

 

 

Kenny bit his lip trying not to laugh as Kyle replied, “oh, that was nice of you. Doubt he deserved it though…”

 

 

“No no trust me, he did…” Butters smiled innocently. Kenny patted his friend’s back, thankful his chuckles were mostly muffled by his parka. If Stan and Kyle had actually paid attention to Butters over the years they’d probably know that he had taken up coding as a hobby. However, after Butters had presented Kenny with a few stolen concert tickets over the years he’d realized that the boy had also taken up a few more malicious hobbies as a result. Hence the parting gift; a virus sent from a fake email address which Cartman was somehow stupid enough to download, causing his computer to blare Big Sean’s ‘I Don’t Fuck With You’ in the middle of class, constantly open a .txt file which said “your mom is a dirty whore” and then bluescreen. Kenny could barely contain himself remembering the look of absolute shock and horror on Cartman’s fat face.

 

 

He managed to quell his laughter as they strolled the rest of the way to Stark’s pond, they quickly found an empty picnic bench and decided to sit there for a while. It was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday morning, peaceful even; the silence would’ve probably been insufferably awkward if not for the quiet rustling of the trees and the sound of birdsong. Stan glanced up from his meal and slowly looked between Kenny and Butters, who were sitting across from them, narrowing his eyes. “Alright you two, spill, what the hell is this?”

 

 

Butters tilted his head curiously as Kenny continued to scarf down a chicken leg. “What’s what?”

 

 

“You’ve been like, attached at the hip this whole time and now you’re sharing food? Dude what’s going on? Are we like, the third and forth wheels or some shit???”

 

 

Kyle snorted, unable to stop himself erupting into laughter as Kenny choked and Butters stared in disbelief. “What?! The heck are you talkin’ about?! We’re just bein’ friendly!”

 

 

Stan snickered as Kyle wiped tears from his eyes, remarking, “your reaction says it all Butters.”

 

 

Kyle composed himself for long enough to say, “I agree with Stan! I mean you two- _oh shit Kenny!”_

 

 

The three of them quickly looked to see Kenny slide out of his seat onto the ground, trying his hardest to cough up the food stuck in his throat and praying to _god_ he didn’t go out this way today. Kyle rushed over to him and sharply struck his back, Kenny lurched and spat out the chicken.

 

 

Stan moved to his side. “Oh god, are you ok?! Oh _fuck_ I nearly killed Kenny!”

 

 

Kenny coughed before taking a deep breath and descending into a fit of laughter. “Y-you… You thought.... Ahahaha you fuckin’ _bastard!!!”_

 

 

Stan slumped back onto the bench in relief as Kyle helped Kenny up.

 

 

Butters sat there gawking at the whole scenario, having absolutely no idea what to say, yet feeling slightly bad that he didn’t do anything to help. Meanwhile Kyle hovered over his friend, who was still chuckling. “You’re absolutely sure you’re fine???”

 

 

“I’m all good Kyle!”

 

 

“You’re sure?”

 

  
“Yes!”

 

 

“100% sure?”

 

  
He rolled his eyes dramatically. “Holy shit, I’m fine _mom,_ don’t worry about it. Go sit back with your fucking boyfriend you goddamn hypocrite.”

 

 

Kyle shot him a glare, punching him in the shoulder before resuming his place beside Stan. He sighed, glanced between his friends and asked, “so did it seriously just take almost sacrificing Kenny to kill this stupid awkward tension?”

 

 

Butters scratched the back of his head and shrugged. “Gosh I sure hope not… Hey, I’m not botherin’ you fellas right?”

 

 

Stan waved off the notion. “Oh hell no, you’re good Butters, we just haven’t hung out in a while.”

 

 

He gave a grateful smile and pressed his knuckles together. “That’s a relief… So, what’ve y’all been up to anyway? I don’t exactly sit with you fellas too much anymore so I only hear things here and there in the halls…”

 

 

Stan shrugged. “Well, um, my family’s off on a holiday right now. Those assholes left me behind because I still have school so I was thinking of throwing a party at some point while they’re gone. Or invite Wendy over if she’s up for it...” He smirked mischievously. “But other than fucking around I’m on the football team now, so I’ve really just been focusing on that. Plus volunteering at the animal shelter; seriously, if any of you want a pet hit me up, we’ve got a few there that really need homes… Anyway, what about you Butters? How’ve you been?”

 

 

Butters perked up and replied, “oh, Minion’s still alive! She’d the oldest hamster I’ve ever seen actually… I ain’t really too sure why everyone else’s keep dying on them!”

 

 

Stan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “That’s cool… I asked how you’ve been doing though?”

 

 

Butters frowned. “Gosh-darnit, I think I heard you wrong, sorry… I’ve been workin’ hard on my computer and stuff, I was trying to find a way to mix it with art so I’ve been tossin’ up the idea of making websites! Designin’ them and all that…”

 

 

Kyle grinned at him. “Dude that’s actually awesome! There’s like, thousands of jobs going around for that, at least my mom keeps saying so… She’s been pushing me to go for a law degree, hard. I mean, I want to, I think?”

 

 

Stan cut in. “Or maybe you should just wait until you work out if that’s really what you want to spend the rest of your _entire life_ doing?”

 

 

“Dude I’m fucked if I do that! There isn’t much time left until college so i’m practically locked in to what I’ve already chosen! Besides I don’t think I could stand two years of constant _‘Kyle you need to try harder!’ ‘This isn’t good enough, what happened to your standards?’ ‘You’re letting yourself down you should’ve stuck with law!’_ Jesus Christ... I like studying, I know I do, I just don’t need someone on my ass about it constantly… At least I can take it out on the court...” he glared down at the meal in front of him before resting his head in his hand and looking up at Kenny, who was picking at a chip. “So what about you?”

 

 

Kenny blinked. “Huh?”

 

 

“Other than work, what have you been doing? Or what do you want to do? Either or.”

 

 

_Oh you know, running around in a cape and tights when you think I’ve been sleeping around, trying to get my parents to stop cooking meth in the garage, normal stuff._ He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. “Uhhh… Expanding my magazine collection?”

 

 

Stan gave him a slightly judgemental look. “Dude, jerking off to vintage playboy mags does _not_ count as a hobby.”

 

 

Kenny smirked. “Uh, yes it fucking does. I’ve got a thing for antiques.”

 

 

“No, really man I’m not joking around, that’s just kinda sad.”

 

 

Kenny felt like he’d just been punched in the gut. He resisted the urge to bite back and instead huffed, “well, I’ve been trying to get the old wrecked car out the front to start up; the junkyard has some good parts if you know where to look. But otherwise, no, I haven’t been doing anything but working.” His eyelid twitched when he heard Kyle mumble something along the lines of ‘at least you have a job’. _Well at least you’re not stuck in a dead end despite how much you think you are._

 

 

Butters then slowly spoke up. ‘Hey, um, fellas? I know we haven’t been here for long but I think I should probably text my Dad when I’m comin’ home… I don’t wanna get grounded or nothin’.”

 

 

Stan gave him a blank look. “Butters. You’re 16.”

 

 

The other boy just hunched over in his seat. “I know…”

 

 

“Well, whenever you want I guess? I was thinking after this we could just head back to my place and play video games? Yeah?” The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

 

 

Kenny began to zone out as the other three continued to make small-talk. He _wished_ his problems only consisted of nagging parents, school and the endless roulette which was Stan and Wendy’s on and off relationship. He glanced to his right; Butters would probably understand the feeling. Though as much as he wanted to snap at them sometimes he couldn’t bring himself to, he was happy for them, he genuinely was. But he couldn’t help feeling jealous, they didn’t have the police practically itching to jump on their family, their brothers and sisters weren’t going to be taken away anytime soon. And even if neither of those scenarios happened they weren’t going to be left, forgotten, in a sinkhole of a town for the rest of their lives. Kenny subtly pulled the strings on his hood tighter and checked his watch; 6 hours until his shift started, 28 hours until he had to pick up Karen.

 

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Craig inhaled and exhaled deeply after pulling the handbrake in his father’s car. He rested his arms on the steering wheel and looked at his boyfriend who was picking at his nails in the passenger seat. They were on their first fake date in six years. The pair had managed to book an appointment in Denver with an unfamiliar doctor after hours of slaving over Tweeks medical records behind his parent’s backs. As far as they knew, the boys were just going out to lunch and to mess around town for a few hours; all it would take is a few pictures to reassure them of that. However, that was the easy part.

 

 

“How’re you feeling?”

 

 

Tweek blinked and glanced at him, taking a shaky breath before answering. “Like a shaken up soda bottle… Like every single bit of control I have over my life might just be about to slip out between my fingers and down the drain…” his fingers slowly but tightly curled into his dress shirt, “I mean… I’m ok with something being wrong with me! Ialreadyknowthereis! But... Oh man, what if there’s _something really wrong with me_ Craig?”

 

 

Craig reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder, the reassurance causing him to stop shaking momentarily. “Then we’ll work through it together, I promise.”

 

 

“But what if it’s something serious?! _Or fatal?! Gah!_ Like what if I have a brain tumor or parkinsons or parasites are eating me from the inside?! I couldn’t handle that, man! _You couldn’t handle that!!!”_

 

 

The teen sighed and took his hand away. “Well I really doubt it’s any of those things, but if it is you wouldn’t have to go through it alone Tweek. Maybe focus on that instead of stirring yourself into a goddamn panic?”

 

 

Tweek then closed his eyes tightly for a brief moment and allowed his shoulders to relax. After a few moments he spoke, “Ok… Ok… You’re right... ” He then collected his wallet, phone and travel mug before stepping out of the car and heading into the surgery, his boyfriend following close beside him.

 

 

They sat in the waiting room, the level of anxiety building up between them was suffocating. Tweek took a long sip of his coffee and tightly gripped Craig’s hand to try and steady himself; he could barely cope with this situation in general, yet alone with a number of the other patients watching him like some kind of sideshow. Within around 20 minutes a middle aged woman entered the room and called out his name; the teen flinched with a shriek and slapped a hand over his mouth. Craig then pulled his hand away, stood and followed her with Tweek by his side.

 

 

The doctor offered them both to take a seat, they obliged and she introduced herself as Dr Lana. She glanced between the two of them briefly. The young blonde boy was twitching, grabbing at his shirt and staring directly at her with bugged out eyes, whereas the other beside him was rigid and stoic, she was unable to read his expression at all. Essentially they seemed to be complete opposites of each other.

 

 

She smiled cordially and sat down. “So, Tweek Tweak?”

 

 

Tweek nodded shakily.

 

 

“So, how can I help you boys today?”

 

 

The pair looked at each other and Craig gestured towards the doctor, Tweek glanced between them and then gripped down hard on his travel mug. “Nggghghgh… Can you tell her?! Please?! Jesus man this is too much pressure…”

 

 

“No.”

 

 

“Why???”

 

 

“You know what’s going on better than I do. Besides you basically just asked me to take a baseball bat to your self confidence, so stop being a baby and just tell her.”

 

 

Tweek grumbled and took a large gulp of his coffee in an attempt to calm himself. “Ok… Uh… Well… I-I…”

 

 

“He’s a spaz.”

 

 

“ _Craig!!!”_

 

 

“Talk or I’ll do it for you.”

 

 

Dr Lana shifted awkwardly in her seat, then gave Tweek a patient smile as he ran his fingers through his hair and thought to himself. “Well… Look at me!!! I shake I twitch I’m stressed all the time! I’m scared that everything and everyone I meet is going to turn around and kill me! And then I pull at my hair and it comes out and I just had to go to the fucking dentist because I grind my teeth so hard they break and then I can’t sleep because I’m either too scared or I’m so into something I’m doing that I forget to! I’ve tried therapy and medication and Craig tries to help me too but nothing’s ever worked and oh man _I don’t know what’s wrong!!!”_

 

 

She quickly took down notes on her computer and then looked him up and down. “Alright... I’ll just check over a few things,” she put on her stethoscope, “can you lift your shirt for me please young man?”

 

 

Tweek obliged and pulled up his shirt to reveal that he was noticeably thin with numerous scabs and marks dotted around his abdomen. The doctor pressed the cold metal to his chest; his heart rate was through the roof. She pursed her lips in thought, noted down the finding and asked him, “do you pick at your skin?”

 

 

He smoothed out his shirt self consciously. “I try not to, Craig tells me not to, but it crawls and itches sometimes and cream doesn’t help. Ngghh…”

 

 

She nodded and picked up a pen light. “I just need to check your eyes next, so don’t blink please.”

 

 

Tweek’s posture became rigid as she held his eye open. Without shining the light in his pupils were dilated to an unusual extent, large black circles with a ring of green surrounding them. There was barely any noticeable change when she shone the torch into his eye. Dr Lana then turned it off and produced a sample jar from a drawer; she had seen more than enough.

 

 

“Alright, so I’ll need you to go collect a urine sample and bring it back to me, ok?”

 

 

The teen placed his things on the nearby desk and took the jar from her. “O-oh ok… Why? If-Ifthat’soktoaskImean.”

 

 

“Standard drug test… Young man are you sure you don’t know what’s going on?”

 

 

Tweek shook his head.

 

 

She pressed her lips into a thin line. “Is there anything you may have consumed within the last 24 hours that could be causing these symptoms?”

 

 

He scratched his head in confusion. “ _No???_ I’ve always been like this… Ngh, um, if you’re asking about drugs my parents put me on Adderall nearly eight years ago but they didn’t do anything to help so I stopped taking them. I don’t like being on pills, they melt people’s brains and turn them to ash…”

 

 

“Alright, but I just need to make you aware that all of your symptoms line up with that of someone who is under the influence of amphetamines.”

 

 

Tweek stared in shock for a few moments. _“What?!_ No, no way… That… Gah! That’s impossible…” He then turned to Craig. The other boy didn’t even respond, he was staring straight ahead with an unreadable expression. Tweek’s stomach dropped, he was probably annoyed at the doctor’s implication. He mumbled, “I’ll get the sample, just don’t expect to find anything.” The teen then stood up and exited the room, leaving Craig and the doctor alone.

 

 

The second the door behind him closed Craig’s calm expression slowly morphed into one of cold rage. “What the hell do you mean _‘under the influence of amphetamines’?”_ he asked with a slight growl.”

 

 

“I already said, he’s expressing numerous glaring signs of long term and recent methamphetamine use in particular.”

 

 

“He just told you he’s not on drugs.”

 

 

“It’s a precaution, young man…”

 

 

Craig’s knuckles went white as his nails gripped into the arms of his seat. He grumbled, “it’s a stupid fucking precaution…”

 

 

The doctor exhaled slowly. “Look. I don’t know how to make this any easier for you… I’m assuming you’ve known him for a long time?”

 

 

“Yes.”

 

 

“Have noticed anything strange at all? A pipe? Empty plastic bags?”

 

 

Craig quickly cut in, raising his voice slightly. “No! I haven’t! Are you implying that Tweek was _lying_ to you just now?! _To me?!”_

 

 

“I didn’t say that.”

 

 

“Well it sure fucking sounded like it!!! I’ve never seen him take meth because he _doesn’t!!!_ He’s not on drugs!!! _He’s not a fucking drug addict!!!”_

 

 

“Young man you’re going to either need to calm down or leave my office.”

 

 

Craig gritted his teeth, glared daggers at her and lowered his voice. “If he took anything I would’ve noticed! I would’ve! Fucking christ.” He rolled his eyes. “If there’s anything he’s _actually_ addicted to it’s his god damn _coffee!_ ” Craig rested his cheek on his hand grumpily, flipping her a subtle middle finger before pausing briefly. He felt his entire body slowly freeze up.

 

 

“Hm? Addicted to his coffee?”

 

 

Craig’s eyes widened. “Yeah…” He sat up straight and turned to look at the travel mug on the desk, he paled as the realization hit him. “His… Coffee…”

 

 

Before either of them could speak Tweek re-entered the room; the doctor thanked him as he handed her the sample and sat back in his seat. Craig watched in mute horror as Tweek reclaimed his mug and took a sip.

 

 

He twitched slightly, looked downwards grimly and asked, “so, do you have any other theories aside from me being on something, apparently???”

 

 

“Currently I think we should opt to wait until the results of the test come back before jumping to any other conclusions.”

 

 

Visions of smacking the mug out of his hands, stomping on it, burning it with a flamethrower and then shooting the ashes into space blurred across Craig’s vision as he watched them wrap up the appointment. He registered the doctor say something about the results coming back within 2-5 days and letting them know via a phone call. The room became unfocused as numerous signs over the years clicked into place, he gripped his pant legs in an attempt to stop his hands from shaking.

 

 

Craig flinched slightly when Tweek tapped his shoulder and gestured for them to leave. He stood, gave a nod of thanks to the doctor and headed to the reception desk to pay for the appointment. In total it came to about $300, Craig’s nose crinkled in annoyance when he saw the price; luckily he busted his ass doing chores all over the neighbourhood for the past week, plus vintage video games fetched a surprisingly high price over the net. He left the surgery with Tweek by his side and started to stroll down the street absentmindedly, the world becoming a blur around him. Craig took the occasional glance at Tweek, who strangely only seemed to be concerned about the price of the consultancy.

 

 

“Oh Jesus $300?! Arggghhh christ that was way too much! I’m so sorry Craig, I know you hate spending money so I’ll pay for lunch this time, _I promise!_ Dad gave me some money for today anyway so it’s not a big deal!” assured Tweek, however, this only caused Craig to furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

 

 

“Tweek?”

 

 

“Um, yes?”

 

 

“Are you feeling ok?”

 

 

Tweek tilted his head. “Gah! I feel normal! You’re the one who’s acting _weird!_ You’ve been all spacy for the last five minutes, you nearly tripped over the gutter twice and barged through three groups of people!”

 

 

Craig blinked and asked, “I did?”

 

 

“Yes. You did,” clarified Tweek.

 

 

This was too weird, he expected Tweek to be freaking out at least a _little_ at the doctor’s suspicions. He studied his boyfriend’s concerned expression before his eyes drifted downwards to the travel mug clenched tightly in his palms. “Oh… Hey, can I see your coffee for a second?”

 

 

“Really? You- ngh- need a little pick me up?”

 

 

He shrugged. “I guess.”

 

 

Tweek held the cup out to him. “You really are being weird, I thought you hated coffee?”

 

 

“I do.” Craig took it from him and unscrewed the lid, sneering at the offending liquid. There seemed to be nothing off about it, just the same disgusting bitter black coffee that Tweek pretty much substituted for water. He held it up to his nose and inhaled deeply; there was nothing off about the scent either, just a normal unoffending cup of black coffee. Craig called bullshit on that, his urge to just tip it out growing stronger by the second.

 

 

Tweek gave him an extremely puzzled look. “Craig you don’t get a boost from inhaling the fumes.”

 

 

“I know.”

 

 

“Can I have it back please?” Craig blinked at him, but didn’t move. Seeing his hesitation Tweek glared and snatched the mug out of his hands, he was only met with a completely blank expression in response. He grumbled, “ggnngghhh… Lets just go to Arby’s or something,” before storming down the street, chugging the last of the coffee as he went.

 

 

“Hey wait!” he called out jogging to catch up. “I think we need to have a talk after lunch, honey.”

 

 

Tweek sighed and nodded. “Yeah, _clearly_ something’s on your mind.”

 

 

Craig gave him a grim smile before slipping his hand into Tweek’s, squeezing it just that little bit tighter.

 

 

…

 

 

The normal progression of time seemed to have slowed down specifically for Craig as he sat picking at his remaining chips. Thirty minutes felt like three hours, plus the sick feeling in his stomach made for an even more unbearable experience. He doubted the selfies that Tweek took of them together looked even remotely good; he couldn’t muster up a genuine smile even if he tried. Craig glanced to his left to see Tweek scrolling through Twitter nervously; his on-edge disposition occasionally rupturing into full-blown anxiety whenever he came across a worrying tweet.

 

 

Tweek trembled in his seat, barely even registering the words flying across his screen as he scrolled through his social media. Craig was acting even more aloof than usual and he _just didn’t know why!_ He bit his bottom lip in an attempt to remain calm and tried to think of something to say. Their communication skills had always sucked, either Craig was too restrained and unempathetic or Tweek was too panicky and confused to make much sense. But saying nothing would fix none of that, nor would it give him answers. Suddenly he turned to him and asked, “doyouwannagetoutofhere?!”

 

 

Craig let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “God, please.”

 

 

They made a beeline for the door, Craig gave the establishment a hearty middle finger as they raced down the street. Tweek then suddenly stopped and turned to face the other boy. “Ok, you wanted to speak about something so _please god tellmewhat’swrong!!!”_

 

 

Craig surveyed the area before grabbing Tweek’s wrist and pulling him down a nearby alley, his usually controlled expression fell into one of worry and he struggled to keep his voice level. “Why are you acting so calm?!”

 

 

_“I’m not calm?!_ Where’d you get that idea?!!”

 

 

“I meant before! When we got out of the doctor’s!”

 

 

Tweek ran his hands down his face. “Argh! I was trying to get my mind off of how much you had to pay, find my centre and think clearly and all that, and it was working before you started to act all strange!!!”

 

 

He groaned and rolled his eyes. “No! Not that! Aren’t you worried about what she said?!”

 

 

Tweek raised an eyebrow and asked, “why would I be?”

 

 

Craig gawked at him. “Seriously?! She said you were on drugs!”

 

 

“But I’m not!!! Jesus Craig I’m more worried that we just wasted our time and you had to fork out so much for another stupid _useless_ test!” he gripped his hair in frustration.

 

 

Craig shook his head. “Look, Tweek, babe, you don’t get it. I think I worked out what’s wrong.”

 

 

Tweek flinched and stared up at him with wide, scared eyes. _“You do?!”_

 

 

He looked away, rubbed the back of his neck and tried to steady himself. “...I think there’s something in your coffee.”

 

 

Tweek blinked. “ _What?!_ That’s _impossible_ Craig! I make it myself! I know _exactly_ what goes into it!”

 

 

“What blend do you use?”

 

 

“Tweak Bros.!”

 

 

“Exactly.”

 

 

The air went cold around them. Tweek met Craig’s hard, determined stare with one of pure unadulterated rage. _“You CANNOT be fucking serious right now!!!”_

 

 

“I am very fucking serious Tweek!!!”

 

 

“You think my family’s coffee has _meth_ in it?!!”

 

 

“Yeah! I do! _I really fucking do!!!”_

 

 

“GggggAAARRGHHH!!!” Tweek pulled some of his hair out and pushed Craig away from him. “You seriously think my parents would do that?!! Put hard drugs in my coffee?! And people think _I’m_ fucking crazy!!!”

 

 

Craig’s lip curled in anger. “Well maybe they think that because you’re off your goddamn face 24/7 and you don’t even realize it!!!”

 

 

The pair continued to yell at each other, having no idea they were drawing a small crowd. Tweek glanced behind Craig, spotting a number of people watching and stormed past him screaming, “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!!” Unsurprisingly they instantly moved on.

 

 

_“Tweek don’t fucking yell at strangers!!!”_

 

 

“Well maybe I wouldn’t if you weren’t insinuating that I’m on drugs, that my parents are on drugs and that they’re spiking the entire town!!! Have you ever trusted my parents?! At all?! I know you hate how much they make me work even though I tell you all the goddamn time that it’s fine! _Do you just hate my family or something Craig?! Is that it?!!”_

 

 

Craig gritted his teeth and tried to lower his voice. “I don’t hate your family Tweek! I just can’t think of any other explanation!”

 

 

“They wouldn’t do that to me!!! Why would they put meth in my coffee?! _Tell me Craig!!”_

 

 

“I don’t know ok!!! _I don’t know!”_

 

 

Tweek gave him a look of absolute hurt before turning to storm back towards the car, Craig trailed behind him. “When that stupid test comes back negative I want an apology Craig.”

 

 

“What if it comes back positive?!”

 

 

“It won’t!”

 

 

“But what if it _does?!”_

 

 

Tweek turned on his heel, sending Craig stumbling backwards to avoid crashing into him. He ground his teeth, gripping at his shirt and trembling. “That _won’t_ happen. It _can’t_ happen!”

 

 

Craig gave him a resigned look and quietly said, “Tweek, if it does I’m calling the police.”

 

 

The teen shook his head and stared ahead of him unfocused. His breathing grew ragged and he began to pull at his hair, he looked on the verge of outright panic.

 

 

Craig held his arms out to embrace him but hesitated. “Can I…?” Tweek nodded and Craig wrapped his arms around him tightly. He rested his chin on top of Tweek’s head as the smaller teen mumbled over and over to himself that it wouldn’t happen. “It’s not like I _want_ the worst case scenario to be true Tweek…” he murmured.

 

 

“Hnngh… It sure seems like it man…”

 

 

“Why would I want something that horrible to be happening to my boyfriend?”

 

 

Tweek buried his face into Craig’s jacket.

 

 

Craig then quietly admitted, “I’m sorry for being a dick about it, this has just been scaring the shit out of me… Hey, look, if the results come back negative I, Craig Tucker, will stand in front of Mr and Mrs Tweak and apologize for all of this bullshit. I’ll be honest about sneaking around and convincing you to do it with me. And then I’ll take you somewhere really nice, wherever you want, anything you can think of. I promise.”

 

 

To his surprise he then felt Tweek slowly return the embrace and grip his jacket tightly, he seemed to be shaking less. “Ngh- you better start getting ready then, because I expect a trip to Disneyland after all this bullcrap Craig.”

 

 

He sighed, “yeah…” and kissed Tweek’s forehead, opting to hold him in that alleyway just a while longer. Craig didn’t care how much money it took, if that test came back negative he was absolutely willing to blow it all to try to make up for putting Tweek through this. But a nagging voice pounding at the inside of his skull kept telling him that he knew exactly what was coming, he knew and he had no idea what he was going to do. Every logical force in his brain was screaming the most probable yet most horrific possibility, and for once in his life, Craig would rather be wrong.


End file.
